Facebook Inc. is being sued over its privacy policies and more than 17,000 global users have joined the class action lawsuit, Reuters reported.

Max Schrems, the Austrian law student who filed the claim in Vienna’s commercial court, is asking Facebook to pay 500 Euros ($670) per person in damages. Facebook has been sued before over myriad privacy issues, such as collecting data for advertisers, sharing data with the National Security Agency via its PRISM program and using its users as lab rats in a mood study done in collaboration with Cornell University.

Usually it's protected by its terms of service that users sign, agreeing to let Facebook collect and distribute their data. But Schrems is contending that those practices violate people’s privacy.

The Austrian legal system gives Schrems' suit several advantages over other lawsuits filed previously. Austrian law allows for a group of people to join a single person’s claim, which is how more than 17,000 people from all over the world (but not the United States) were able to join Schrems in his claim.

Since Facebook operates its international headquarters in Ireland, it's subject to European Union data protection laws, which are much more robust than America’s. The EU has strict legislation regulating what can and cannot be kept, whereas the U.S. tends to settle such issues on a case-by-case basis.

Menlo Park-based Facebook has in large been able to shrug off privacy suits in the past by changing its privacy policy. And users who are wary of the site’s data collection practices haven't abandoned the service in numbers. Facebook has more than a billion users and it posted a 61 percent increase in sales during the second quarter.

That doesn’t mean the $200 billion company doesn't find itself in an interesting predicament with Schrems' suit, as he and his co-complainants have little to lose.

Almost any user can join Schrems' suits and make a quick buck if the lawsuit is successful. If the suit fails, there is no cost to Facebook users, as a German legal finance provider will handle all the complainants' expenses.